Ejisu-Juaben: MTN Ghana empowers youth in soap making business

Unemployment rates in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality of the Ashanti region is expected to henceforth see a reduction with the training of more than 30 persons in the soap making business.

The training facilitated by the National Board of Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) with support from telecom giant MTN, is not to only give them employable skills in the respective industry, but to also empower the beneficiaries, economically.

As part of activities earmarked to observe MTN’s 21 Days of Y’elloCare for this year, the network operator says it finds the soap making training, prudent in making people especially, the youth gain financial independence.

Speaking to Ultimate Business on Thursday, after a visit to the soap makers in the Ejisu-Ampabame community, General Manager for MTN Northern Sector, Nii Adotey Mingle mentioned that, the exercise also formed part of the company’s deliberate agenda to give back to society.

“This is about empowering the unemployed in the community, so it still comes down to our corporate social responsibility (CSR). There are some communities where you have people who are unemployed and it doesn’t matter if they’re male or female.”

“When it has to do with soap making, it is an enterprise for which you think that if you empower people, they can easily get the necessary tools to produce, sell and make some money.”

Nii Adotey continued by saying “we collaborated with the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) and we had the results we have today. This has been done across the nation as part of our 21 Days of Y’elloCare”.

On her part, Madam Agnes Acheampong of Acheampa Ventures, who took the participants through the process of soap making expressed her utmost appreciation to MTN Ghana, for their immense support in training the youth in the area, who will later contribute meaningfully to the upkeep of their homes, families and the country as a whole.

The participants who have passed out successfully are also expected to receive certificates and logistics from the local government to start their own business.

In a related development, MTN partnered Zoomlion Ghana in a clean-up exercise in the Kumasi metropolis, aimed at ridding the city off filth.

The World Bank estimates that in 2012 alone, poor sanitation alone cost Ghana’s economy around Gh¢420 million which is equivalent to 1.6 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The Northern Sector Boss further revealed that the network is ready to partner with the various local assemblies, across the nation on improving sanitation and hygiene.

“We definitely will partner the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly or any of the authorities any day to get our cities clean. If you work in a clean environment, you know what the results are.”

“We all realize what plastics are doing to us; choking our gutters, they are in our rivers, the sea and getting into the guts of both animals and fishes, which in turn comes back to us.”

He also advised against the indiscriminate littering of plastics, paper and other refuse which has a negative effect on the environment.

“It is about time we all understood that littering plastics and getting it to go into our food chain will not help us.”

The month of June every year has been dedicated for management and staff and affiliates of MTN to engage in activities that will make positive impact on their communities.